Bending to freedom
by Kataang-is-MYLIFE
Summary: "I was born a criminal. I can't help who I am. Neither of us can... but I can help you." When the world is corrupted and bending is outlawed, and Katara is forced into a life of secrecy, everything changes when she meets one very special boy. Futuristic AU
1. 1 Average morning for Katara

U_.G.A law # 30: All persons to possess the ability to manipulate the elements around them will be captured and sentenced to either A) A life time in solitary confinement B) Immediate execution, with or without state court approval. Those who attempt any form of revolt and/or use violence against any enforcer of this law will either spend either a lifetime in confinement or receive a death sentence. Any person who allows refuge for a bender __under __the same personal residence __will undoubtedly be sentenced to death. _

In other words, anyone who was a bender or supported benders would die or would be locked up in jail for life.

Though this law was created over 100 years ago, it still caused me to live in fear every single day.

CHAPTER 1

I looked at the ceiling through tangled lashes as I forced myself to wake from a warm, sleepy state. I pushed off my teal-blue blankets from my heated body, leaving the brutally cold air nipping at my bare arms and legs. I turned my head, and stared at the alarm clock, which was perched precariously close to the edge of my bed table. I pushed the clock back, before it toppled over onto the wooden floor, and red the red numbers on it. _07:23 _I glared at the clock in annoyance; the alarm didn't go off, yet again.

"I really need to get a new clock..." I muttered to myself. I pushed my legs over to the side of my bed, which creaked loudly as I jumped off, and proceeded t walk over to my bathroom to examine my reflection in the mirror.

Makeup was smeared in all the wrong places, making white and black blotches over my copper skin. My waterproof mascara and eyeliner was still intact, and my mahogany colored hair only needed a hair brush to be run through it a few times. I was wearing my favorite sleek, blue nightgown, which had white lace running along the hem of my dress that brushed the skin just below my knees, and had a slight bit of cleavage peeking through. It was a lovely gown, but not really suitable for sleeping in, for it left the skin on my arms and legs uncovered and bare to the bitter cold, winter nights of Terra.

Now, I was more accustomed to cold weather (as to being the fact that I was born and raised in the icy tundra of the Shui tribes,) but at least the local clothing departments didn't just **only **sell skimpy, little night gowns. That was one of the only downsides to living in Terra; the revealing, tight, plastic clothes. But besides that, the schools, technology, clothing, and pretty much everything was more advanced in Terra. Before, I only had a little, run down television and a pre-owned Ipod with a crack running through the screen to keep me happy. It wasn't even a good Ipod; only 3gb. Now, I had more access to modern day devices, like hover boards, P.I watches (portable internet watches), pocket-sized holographic projectors, smart rooms, interactive mirrors which suggested outfits and styles, and more. When you walked down the street, brightly colored windows lined the buildings, and some places, like the apple store of some clothing stores had interactive windows, where you can access a full catalogue of their items before you walk in the store. The plastic sidewalks were always dazzling shades of orange, chartreuse, vermillion, magenta and more, with white metal street lamps lighting each corner with a burning, white light. Glossy, no-wheel cars drove down navy blue plastic-paved roads, and massive holographic screens were plastered at many building sides, broadcasting news to people on the streets below.

Living in Terra was like a technological dream.

I walked into my bathroom, said the voice command for the lights, and pressed the red button on the side of my mirror, which made a little ping noise, and turned yellow, then green. A blue surge of life rippled through the mirror, and the time, 07:25, appeared in pink letters on the top right-hand corner of the screen. "Good morning, Katara." The mirror said in a robotically sweet voice.

"Morning." I responded drearily.

"Would you like to see today's recommended choice of clothing?" It asked.

"Of course."

"Very well." The screen then flashed briefly, and a transparent box appeared around my reflection. The mirror made several separate boxes around different points of my image, and then matched it with the best option for dressing that day. It picked out, from my collection of clothes, a tight, electric blue shirt with a belt around the waist that clasped in the front, a silver chain belt, shiny, black skin jeans, and some 4 inch,black, plastic heels.

"Something a little more school appropriate please." The image disappeared, and was replaced with a loose, soft blue tank top with ruffles along the edge, a pair of dark navy blue skin jeans with zippers at the bottom, and some closed-toe one inch, stormy blue heels, and a long, stormy gray cardigan.

"Better." I said. I walked over to my closet, put on the recommended outfit, brushed my hair, and went on with doing my normal morning routine. Eventually, about 30 minutes had gone by, and the school mobile was coming.

"Sokka! Come on! Almost time to go!" I called out to my brother.

No response.

"Sokka!"

Still no response.

I marched over to his room next to mine, to find my brother snoring on his bed, arms splayed out, blanket and sheets strewn all over that floor.

"Sokka! Wake up you short-circuited moron! The bus arrives in 15 minutes." I yelled.

"Katara.. leave me alone! I don't want to got to school today!" Sokka said irritatedly, his voice muffled through his... unwashed pillow.

"Sokka, get up. Now."

"No."

"Yes! UP!" With that, I walked over to his bad, and slapped him on the back of his knees.

"HOLY SPIRITS, Katara!" Sokka yelled, his voice cracking, as he jumped from his bed.

"Good, your up. Get ready. It's time to go to school."

OoOoO

His black, scruffy hair was brushed down neatly, his shirt white with two single green stripes going down one side completely wrinkle free and slightly reflective like most clothes are. He wore loose skin jeans and white, no lace shoes with a faint, green light at the front of them adding a unique twist to his outfit, finished off with a black hoodie made of a very shiny, plastic like materiel. He looked into his mirror, and stared at the light blue arrow tattoo on his head before covering it with a plastic, somewhat translucent, barely blue baseball cap with a metal rim.


	2. 2 New student

The hover bus drove down the road, whirring silently as it did so, carrying about 30 teenagers with it to Lang-hao high school, the very place my brother and I attended in Terra. I sat in a seat with my close friend, Toph, who is a short Terrian girl with midnight black hair and pale white skin, which looks smooth and perfect like porcelain. Her green eyes are faded over by a misty blue sheen, making it obvious that she's blind. The only way that she is able to get around is because of a magnetic chip in the part of the brain which enables you to understand spatial relationships, or where other objects are placed around you. The chip senses the electrical grid placed under the city, and sends messages to her brain, telling her where to go. It's not seeing, but it's a lot better than walking around aimlessly hoping you don't accidentally bump into something.

Sokka was in the seat behind us with his girlfriend, Suki, who is also one of my close friends. Sokka's friend, Zuko, sat across from Sokka with his girlfriend, Mai, who was a gothic looking girl with an attire as black and depressing as her usual mood. Though they were originally Sokka's friends, I eventually befriended them over time.

Behind Zuko and Mai were two popular girls named Ty lee and Azula. Ty lee was preppy and cheerful by nature, and I actually liked her, but Azula was the problem. She was a manipulative girl who used her strangely fearsome beauty and her intimidating character to use people, start drama, and get anything she wanted at anytime. I mostly did a good job of hiding from her, but no matter how much you hide from the sun, it's tedious rays will eventually find you, and the same thing goes for Azula.

"Can you believe my parents!" Toph complained loudly. "First they won't let me go to the mall without them, even though I am 16 and able to drive a DPA car, but now they won't even let me drive the DPA car because I'm blind! Seriously! That's what a DPA car is for! _Disabled Person Assistance_ car! It's meant for blind people with a SA chip in their head, like me!"

"You're parents are just. . . traditional. It's a fairly new invention, and some people aren't entirely convinced it's safe," I said.

"Nothing's safe, Katara. Life isn't safe, and I wish my parents would just understand that! They can't protect me from life!" Toph ranted.

"No, but I think they're just trying to protect you from one thing in the world that makes life unsafe," I tried to explain.

"So, what you're saying is that they won't let me into a DPA car, but they will let me into 13 ton hover bus that is more likely to kill me than the car."

"No, they won't let you _drive _the car."

"But they will let me onto a bus."

"Well, you're not driving the bus, are you?" I leered at her.

". . . Pft. Whatever. . ." she grumbled, then blew a loose piece of hair out of her face."

After about five minutes, the bus arrived at the high school and all of the students pushed their way out (quite rudely, actually,) and went into school.

I made my way to my locker, picked up the books I needed, and went to my desk in class. The very first thing I noticed when I walked in was a new student, a boy a little taller than me, sitting next to my desk.

I didn't know it at the time, but this boy was going to change my life forever.

_**Yay, done with chapter 2. I dang... I haven't done a new chapter in FOREVER! Lack of motivation. . . I guess. **_

_**But anyways, I know this was a short chapter, but I'm just trying to get things moving along here. I'm going to try to write another one tonight. If I don't finish tonight, I'll probably finish tomorrow.**_

_**How was this chapter? I feel like it just sort of drones on in some places, but I'm feeling to lazy right now to edit it. I'll most likely do it later. Or tomorrow. . . or never. I don't know if I liked it that much. . . oh well. I'll try harder next time. . . maybe. I'm really lazy right now. . . so I don't know.**_

_**Oh my buddha, superbowl is over! I just watched it for the commercials, to be honest. :p**_

_**Have a good day/night, my little avatards! Xp**_


	3. 3 A foreboding nightmare

CHAPTER 3

The school day went by normally. I listened to lectures in science, enjoyed lunch with my friends, nearly fell asleep in social studies, and so on, but throughout the day, I couldn't take my eyes off the new kid. There was something about him. . . I can't put it into words. . . but he just almost. . . called out to me, in a way. And it wasn't just because he was handsome.

Though, he really was. He had these silvery grey eyes that shone like diamonds, and shaggy black hair that really framed his face well.

But that wasn't it.

There was just. . . something. . .

Before I knew it, the 4 o' clock bell rang, indicating that is was time for dismissal.

"Katara, lets go!" Sokka called out to me from outside my classroom door. I grabbed my things and went off with him in the hallway.

I walked with Sokka to the buses, and h began telling me a story about what happened at school that day, but I was only partially listening to it. ". . . And so Zuko just gets up in the middle of class, glares at the teacher, then walks out during a lecture! Gosh, you should have _seen _professor Zhao, he looked like he was about to blow a circuit! But anyways-" Sokka rambled, but at this point I wasn't really paying attention anymore. Instead I was focused on the new kid. . .

". . . I swear Katara, I almost died laughing, I- Katara?"

I jumped from hearing my name. "Oh, yeah?"

"Were you even listening?" he inquired.

"No, sorry. I was distracted."

"By what? I was telling a really good story!" he whined.

"I was distracted by that new kid over there," I explained, turning my gaze to him so Sokka would see who I was referring to.

"Oh, him. I think his name is Aang. . ."

"Aang?" I asked, surprised by the unusual name. "How do you know that? Did you talk to him or something?"

"No, I heard on of the teachers call out his name in the hallway."

"That's an odd name." I noted. I looked back to him. He was walking towards the buses too, but alone. He seemed sort of lonely, and I felt guilty that I hadn't gone and tried to befriend him earlier.

Sokka continued babbling while I just sort of tuned him out, when Toph and Suki came up to us.

"Hey Sugarqueen!" Toph waved to me, using the nickname she gave to me the previous year. "Hey, I'm not going to go on the bus this afternoon." she said, while nonchalantly playing with her fingernails.

"Really? Why?" I asked.

"My parents are picking me up right away to go to the stupid dentist. I don't know why I have to go. I don't have any cavities, or anything. I brush twice a day!"

"I'm sorry. Well, I'll see you tomorrow," I said, coming up close to my bus.

"Yeah, okay. See ya, Sugarqueen." She walked off in the opposite direction towards the pick-up line. I laughed at her irritability, then jumped into my bus.

As I took a seat, I gasped when I saw the next person who walked onto the bus.

It was the new kid. Aang.

I watched as he shuffled to the back of the bus, taking the only vacant seat left, and sat alone, wearing a bored and somewhat sad expression. I wondered if he had made any friends.

He probably didn't.

The bus began to whirr gently, then rose off the ground in one swift, smooth motion, and drove down the bus lane. It was still going slow enough that I might have been able to get up and sit next to him. _Should I go, _I thought. _If I don't, I might miss out on making friends with him. If I do, I might not know what to say and will end up putting myself in an awkward situation, or we just might not get along. _ But something was telling me to go and sit next to him, and if I didn't, I would end up regretting it forever. _He's just some average student on the bus who looks lonely. I doubt that if I don't go, I would be missing out on something, _but deep down inside, I knew that was wrong.

I made up my mind.

I stood up from my seat, and walked down the bus aisle, biting my lip hoping and I wouldn't make a total fool of myself. I sat down at his seat and smiled at him.

"Hi."

OoOoO

I was a little shocked, I have to admit. That day was probably one of the worst school days I had ever had; I felt awkward and out of place, the teachers dumped a huge workload on me so I could catch up with the other students, and I didn't make any friends. That was kind of my fault, though. I wasn't very social. . . which is kind of weird for me, speaking for the fact that my friends used to tell me that I never stopped talking. But here I was sitting on the bus. . . feeling, to be honest, kind of lonely, when who was probably one of the prettiest girls I had ever seen randomly sat next to me. I couldn't help but blush.

"H-hi." I said, hoping that she didn't notice my red cheeks.

"Um. . . your name is Aang, right?" she asked.

"How did you know?" I couldn't help but notice that she smelled like flowers. . .

"I heard a teacher say your name in the hallway. My name is Katara. It's nice to meet you." She said.

After the initial shock of having an extremely beautiful girl sit next to me, I felt my cheeks cool down and my brain start working again. "It's nice to meet you too."

We sat in an awkward silence for a few moments, while I tried to rack my brain for anything to say that might start up a conversation, when she spoke up.

"So, Aang, what brings you to Lang-hao high school?" She asked.

"I moved here."

"Oh, where did you come from?"

"Um. . . I came from a small earth kingdom town called. . . uh. . . Tayoyan De yu." I said, hoping that she didn't speak the traditional Terra language, since Tayoyan De Yu means 'annoying fish.'

"Huh. I never heard of it. Where is it?"

"Um. . . It's on the eastern coast of Terra by the. . . Pang Nuren gulf." I tried not to laugh; Pang Nuren means 'fat lady.'

"Cool!" She said, oblivious to the meanings of the words. "Why did you move here?"

"My guardian. He got a job here," I said, thinking that was the most truthful answer.

"Oh, that's cool! I moved here five years ago with my brother to live with my grandmother," she said.

"Why are you living with your grandmother?"

"Well. . . my dad went out to war five years ago, and my mother died seven years ago, so me and my brother had to live with her," she explained sadly. I instantly wished I hadn't asked. It was obviously a painful subject for her and I just made her talk about it.

"Oh, I am so sorry. I shouldn't have asked."

"It's okay. I don't mind." Katara smiled at me kindly, then looked down to her hands and began to play with her fingers.

"I'm. . . really sorry. I know what it's like. I lost my parents when I was really young, so now I'm living with my new guardian, Gyatso."

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said somewhat sadly.

"It's okay, Gyatso is practically a father to me." I looked to her again and saw that she was looking down thoughtfully, obviously feeling glum. "Let's talk about something else. This is kind of depressing."

She chuckled lightly before smiling at me again. Maybe this day wasn't so bad after all.

OoOoO

I was sitting at the kitchen table, drinking a sizzle-pop, while my brother was riffling through the fridge, picking out all the meat products and holding them in his arms until he looked like me might just drop it all. ". . .So anyways, he's into religious studies and technological studies, like me! Isn't that great? I don't think I have met a guy like him before. He's so. . . unlike other guys. He's really smart and nice and into interesting things and-"

"Katara," Sokka interrupted, while closing the fridge door with his feet, "Don't take this the wrong way, but I couldn't care less about your new boyfriend and his _oh so charming personality._"

"He's _not _my boyfriend. I just met him!"

"Whatever." Just then the food he was carrying dropped out of his hands and crashed onto the floor. I tried to hold back my laughter as he groaned loudly and bent down to pick up the food, only to lose his balance and fall face down, his stomach landing in the meat.

"Karma," I teased.

"Shut up. . ." he grumbled. I laughed quietly and walked out of the kitchen, sizzle-pop in hand, and went into my bedroom and shut the door behind me. I smiled contentedly as I took in my room, as I always do everyday when I walk into it. My room was very enviable. My walls were painted white and had a thin layer of plexiglas glass over it to create a reflective surface. There were a chrome moldings at the bottom of the walls, which had small blue lights coming out of them, which shone on the plexiglass, making the whole room glow with a blue luminance.

My bed was made of a glossy, white plastic, and was square in shape and small in height. Like the moldings on my wall, my bed was also inlaid with blue lights of the same color and brightness. The sheets were white and the blanket was a solid teal-blue, with no stitches or patterns running through it. The end table, which was made of the same white plastic as my bed, was covered with my alarm clock and a polished teal vase, also free of patterns and designs. It was my little safe-haven.

I flopped down onto the bed, Aang still in my mind. I sunk down deeper and deeper into my cushiony mattress, until my room around me began to float away into a black void.

_My mind was empty and my thoughts were non-existent, but I was unaware of that. My whole body was overcome with a strange paralyzed sensation, and everything was extremely warm, but I didn't notice that either. I looked around me and saw I was in a white room with a blue orb in the middle. I knew I was supposed to walk up to the orb, but before I was able to think about it, I was already next to it and was staring down into it's misty depths, a feeling of unexplainable panic consumes me. An __image of a dirty black room, which looked much like a prison cell, appeared in the blue mist. _

_I looked around me and realized I was in the prison cell. The prisons blue electrical shield-bars were blocking the exit. In the corner was a boy, about my age, who was sitting on the ground with his head in his lap and his arms around his knees. I watched him, terror-stricken, as he raised his head. I tried to scream, but my voice did not come out. I was overtaken with absolute fear, as I watched him. . .crying. He said, "Why did I choose here? Why did I let you go? Why can't I save them?" _

_Suddenly, the boys eyes began to glow, and the room was filled with red blood. I tried to scream, but I couldn't. Eventually, the blood had risen to the ceiling, and my body became as heavy as lead. I tried to take in a breath, but the blood prevented me from it. I was going to drown. _

_In the moment of the blink of an eye, I was out of the flooded prison cell, but instead I was in a burning classroom. I looked around and realized the classroom was my homeroom, and that my classmates were all in it, on the ground, burning up in the flames. Some of them were still alive, writhing in the flames with their mouths open wide as if trying to scream, while others were already dead. A young girl of a crude beauty walked in the room, with a dark and menacing face which made her resemble a raven, somehow. She let out a spine-tingling laugh, and for a moment I thought I was looking at some evil spirit of chaos or the underworld. _

_I found myself in another place. This time, I was on what used to be a battlefield. Soldiers and arms were scattered on the ground everywhere, and yet again, I was swept back by complete fear. I began to cry, but the tears that ran down my cheeks were warm and numb. The boy I saw in the prison cell was standing in the middle of the empty battlefield. He spoke again. "I can't do it. . .I can't protect them. . . I shouldn't be alive. . .I can't stop it from happening." Suddenly, he turned to me._

"_They're all going to die. You will die."_

I shot up in my beat, my heart beating vigorously in my chest until I was absolutely sure it was going to burst out any moment. I looked around, and saw I was in my room, where I truly belong. I sighed.

"That dream was terrifying. . ." I said to myself. I was thinking back to my nightmare, and felt an odd feeling of foreboding.

I shrugged it off and walked into my bathroom to clean myself up, when I realized something.

The boy in my dream. . . was Aang.

OoOoO

_**YAY done with chapter 3. Thank you for all of your wonderful and kind reviews. You all really helped motivate me on writing this chapter. I'm sorry it took longer than expected. I ended up having to finish this science project which is like a HUGE portion of my grade, so I couldn't write. Anyways, how was this chapter? I think the dream part was a little. . . lengthy. I am not so sure I did a good part on that, but whatever. If there are any spelling and grammar issues, sorry. That just means I didn't do a good enough job of editing. Sorry if my writing style is kinda crappy, but I haven't really written that much in my life. This is probably the. . . 6**__**th**__** multi-chapter story that I **__**have written that I have taken seriously. That's also partially why my grammar is iffy.**_

_**Um. . . what else. . . I probably won't write next month since I am moving, and I will be too preoccupied with moving stuff. I accidentally packed my story board for this into a box, so I have to stop at a certain chapter since I won't know what to write, unless I dig through my boxes and try to find it. Chapter 4 will probably be my last chapter for a while. **_

_**But anyways, have a good day/night, my little avatards! Xp**_


	4. 4 The Lecture

"Alright class, turn on your learning pads and go to lesson C3. Today's lesson is a continuation of yesterday's of a brief history of the war of 2646. Now, can anyone tell me what year the war of 2452 took place in?" Miss Wu asked the class. No body raised their hands.

"No? Well I guess no one is paying attention then." As the teacher said that, she took out a black sonic sound projector from the inside of her desk and flipped it on. The class burst out into a chorus of startled shrieks as a terrible high pitched noise rang through the room. After a few seconds of watching her students struggling, Miss Wu turned off the device. Everyone let out a large sigh of relief.

"Well, now that I have your attention, what year did the war of 2646 take place in?" The class gave her an odd look and then a student from the back of the class gingerly raised his hand and answered, "um. . . 2646?"

"Of course, that's why it's called the War of 2646! Now that we've clarified that, let's move on with our lesson." Though Miss Wu just made a point of making her class understand, some students around me had already begun to space out or doodle on their learning pads with a pen stylus. I, on the other hand, had my eyes glued on her lips and listened to every solitary word coming out of her mouth. Normally, I don't pay attention in social studies, but the war of 2646 is a very important subject to me.

"Now, lets go over what we learned yesterday," Miss Wu said. "Now, who can list some causes of the war?" I raised my hand. "Yes, Katara?"

"The beginning conflict between benders and non benders began when the majority of world leaders were benders. These rulers were claimed to be biased towards the Bending population of the world and placed extremely unfair laws against the non-bending population. Sozin, the leader of the Fire Nation, was a non-bender and felt the oppression of his race first hand. He began a movement called the 'equalist' movement in 2645. This movement fought against bigotry towards non-benders. The movement stirred up conflict, and over time, the conflicts between non-benders and benders grew worse, beginning the war in 2646. Sozin sided with other non-bending world leaders, and as the world civil war raged on, they were strategizing a way to completely annihilate the benders. The devised a plan to create a weapon which would put benders to a disadvantage, and then make a move on their opponents from there. They created multiple weapons specializing in the destruction of benders, then coordinated a series of attacks on major bending civilizations leaders. After a short amount of time, the non-benders won the war." I told her. The class stared at me in awe with their mouths open like I had just done triple back-flips.

"That was. . . an excellent answer," Miss Wu responded. "Now, what were the Bender's attitudes in the war, and how did that affect them? And. . . can someone other than Katara answer?" A few students raised their hands. The teacher pointed to Toph, who was sitting right next to me that day.

"Benders were overly confident, and that costed them. They weren't immediate enough in their actions, and didn't protect or fortify themselves enough."

"Very good. I guess more people have been paying attention than I've thought. Today, we'll be reading about the affects of the war. Now, look at your lesson in front of you and go to page 3. That is U.G.A law # 30. Now, can anyone tell me what the U.G.A stands for? Kanto, do you know?" She called in the front of the class

"The U.G.A is the United Government Association."

"Good. As you all probably already know, the United Governments Association is a political group consisting of every nation in the world. The purpose of the U.G.A is for the nations to live in peace and to create laws in which every citizen of the world must adhere to. The group was formed in 2617, only 29 years before the war. Once the war began, the association briefly split up, then reformed a mere week after the war ended.

"At the first U.G.A meeting of 2676, new non-bending leaders were assigned their political roles in the world. At the next meeting, which took place the next day, the nation names were changed. Before the war, the four main countries of the world were the Fire Nation, Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom, and the Air Nation. The names were changed to non-elemental related titles, which is why we live in Terra, and not in the Earth Kingdom. The only nation whose name did not change was the Air Nation, only because every Air Nomad was an Airbender, and therefore the decision was made to end that race of people because of their dangerous nature.

"During the third meeting, U.G.A law # 30 was placed, which outlawed the existence of benders. Their reasoning behind the law was that benders were evil, untrustworthy people who would just cause more trouble in the world and needed to be exterminated. Their reasoning was very correct, as for the fact that there have been no war or conflicts since the law was passed." After she said this, there were some quiet agreeing glances shared between students and nods of approval happening all throughout the room. It infuriated me.

"Today, we'll be looking over each individual section of the law." This was followed by not-so-approving groans. I stopped paying attention at this point.

I couldn't believe that my own teacher thought this. . . and that the other students did too. Benders are normal people. . . they don't deserve to be killed just for being born. So many of them are peaceful, innocent people. Yes, just any other group of people, there are some bad, murdering benders, but there are also murdering non-benders! It's not fair to them.

It's not fair to me. It it was most certainly not fair to my mother. She didn't deserve what happened. . . and I didn't deserve it either. The Anti-bender police had word of a female in my household who possessed waterbending abilities. My mother admitted she was the bender and they killed her on the spot.

In reality, I'm the bender. She said that to protect me.

And I hate the U.G.A for it. They made me live in secrets and fear my whole life, and they took away my mother.

I also can't do anything about it, because if I do, they will catch me and kill me.

OoOoO

The day was over finally. Social Studies with Miss Wu put me into a bad mood. In fact, the whole day put me into a bad mood, but she was just the epitome of my distress. Professor Piandao issued the class a new tech-science project, and we had to carry around with us heavy technological equipment. In my anthropology class, we were given extremely old books from the 21st century to examine and take notes on, and that was not fun to add to your pile of already-heavy-enough-items, and then I was assigned four other projects in other classes, so I most certainly would not be able to relax that night. And to top it all off, I wasn't even able to vent to and cool my circuits off with my friends at any time during the day because I was too busy getting started on the projects. By this point, I just wanted to get home.

I walked out the hall and towards the buses, when Toph and Suki came up to me and started complaining about their projects too. For some reason, it was somehow comforting to know that I wasn't alone in my academic suffering.

We went aboard the bus together, and Toph and Suki decided to take a seat together, since they never do, and I said it was okay. I went to go sit next to Sokka, but he was already sitting next to Zuko.

That only left one person.

OoOoO

I noticed, as I was sitting alone, that Katara had no place to sit, so I tapped her shoulder from behind and asked, "Hey, do you need a place to sit?"

"Yeah, thank you." She said, then smiled in a grateful way. I was grateful myself that with in the first two days of school I've had the opportunity to get to even be around someone so kind and beautiful as Katara."How are you liking this school so far?" She asked

"It's alright. I got a really large amount of homework in my classes though, and I'm kind of stressed out." She rolled her eyes and laughed. I then noted. . . she has a beautiful, tinkling laugh.

"I know, me too. I'm freaking out! We've never gotten this many assignments from all of our teachers before. I don't know what's going on! You came at the worst time to this school."

"That's so comforting. Thanks Katara."

"No problem." We both laughed and continued talking and getting to know each other for a while. It was really nice. . . until some guy turned around from the seat ahead and started teasing us. . . well, more of Katara.

"Hey Katara. So, this is your boyfriend," he said. "Nice to meet you, Katara's boyfriend, my name is Sokka. I'm looking forward to having you as a brother in law."

"Sokka, shut the hell up." Katara scolded. I noticed she was blushing. . . just like me.

"You know it's true."

"I hate you." Katara then looked over to me and smiled, then proceeded to give a better introduction to Sokka.

"Aang, this is my brother."

"Ah, that explains the bickering," I said.

"Yes. That, and he's and idiot and I can't stand him sometimes and it's hard to not bicker with him."

"Oh, he can't be that bad. . ."

"Yes he is~" "Yes I am~" They both said simultaneously.

"What's going on here?" Another boy sitting next to Sokka said as he turned around to face both me and Katara. When I first saw him, I had to resist the temptation to gasp at his unfortunate face. He was obviously once a very good looking guy, with defined featured and long black hair, but he had a horrible, painful looking scar on the left side of his face from his cheek to his eyebrow.

"I'm talking to Katara's new boyfriend." Sokka said. "Oh, and by the way Katara's boyfriend, this is my buddy Zuko."

"Katara has a boyfriend?" Zuko gasped, completely ignoring Sokka's last comment, then turned towards me."

"No, I'm not Katara's boyfriend. Sokka just likes to say that to annoy Katara."

"Is it working?" Zuko asked Katara.

"If I say yes, that would be giving Sokka the power."

"So, yes, he's annoying you."

"Of course!" She laughed. Sokka brought his fist up in a "yes" motion, then continued to ask me a few questions about where he came from. Eventually, the bus stopped in front of Sokka and Katara's place, so they stepped off and waved to me and Zuko as the ride kept moving on. I smiled. "I like these people a lot. . ." I thought. "I hope we'll we good friends." Then it dawned on me,

I probably won't have them for friends for very long either.

OoOoO

"Gran Gran, we're home!" Yelled as we came through the door. There was no answer. I wasn't too worried, though. She was probably asleep or something. I went to the fridge and grabbed a sizzle pop for both me and Sokka, then tried to gain her attention again.

"Hey Gran Gran, we're home!" I walked through the hallway into Grandma's den where she usually is where we get home. "Gran Gran, we're ho-" I gasped, then dropped my drink and spilled it all over the floor. I didn't care though. Neither did Gran Gran.

She was sitting there on her couch, like always, but this time it was different. She had a different smile than normal and happier than I have seen her in a while. That was not the only thing that was different though. This time, she was not alone. There, next to her, was a tall, muscular man with deep blue eyes and dark skin, who also beamed at me.

"Dad."

**FINALLY did another chapter! **_**And**_**in one day too! Sweetness. :3 I'm going to try to write ****another one this week, but no promises that I'll have it up soon. This week is finals week. I'm so scared! Once the finals are over, I'll put one up as soon as possible.**

**I didn't really edit this very much. . . so sorry if there are some errors or if it is not very good. **


	5. 5 Reunion

"Dad... what are you... you're home." I couldn't believe it. He was actually here! After years of not seeing him, I almost didn't recognize him. I scanned him from head to toe, as if trying to decide if he was a figment of my imagination or a reality.

The first thing I noticed about him was that he looked strangely the same. His hair was pulled back into a pony tail like it always was, he was wearing his shark tooth necklace that Sokka made for him like how he always did, and he had that same strap around his shoulder that held up a pocket at his hip that contained his signature machete, the same one he wore the last time I saw him. He was so similar, like an image from an old dream, but also different in some ways. He was older. More tired. I didn't know what to think. I just couldn't believe he was there. It wasn't until he spoke that I concluded that he was, in fact, real.

"I've missed you so much, Katara," he said to me. I was too stunned to respond. He stood up from his seat next to gran-gran and moved a little closer to me. He had a tearful smile on his face that was laced with other emotions that I just couldn't pick out. Sadness? Guilt? "Katara, I-"

"DAD!" Both of us jumped at the sudden noise and turned to the doorway to find an ecstatic looking Sokka there with a wide smile plastered across his face that spread from ear to ear. He, unlike me, was not stunned frozen on first appearance and ran up to our father and tackled him with a huge platypus-bear hug.

"Sokka, it's so good to see you," dad chuckled. Sokka smiled into our dad's arms and muttered something into his tunic. A single tear fell from his eye. I continued to just stand there. My arms wouldn't move. I tried to speak, but no words would escape my throat..

_Katara, what are you doing? _I thought. _You should act happy! You've always dreamed that your family can be whole again, that you can be reunited with your father. Now that he's here, you're not doing anything. Say something!_

"Dad!" I said suddenly. Both he and Sokka turned to me, surprised from my sudden outburst. "Are you... are you staying?" His smile faltered a little.

"I'm afraid not." That certainly dampened the mood a little.

"WHAT?" Sokka yelled, backing away from him slightly, but not leaving his embrace. "I thought that you were going to..." he stopped. He looked down at his feet a little, sighed, then hugged dad one more time before pulling away.

"I'm sorry guys, I just came to say hi," he said, with one arm still on Sokka's shoulder. "The military has allowed some soldiers from my unit to visit their families. I have to return to base in a week." I blinked. _So, he isn't here forever..._

Sokka and I just stared at him. I hesitantly stepped closer to him, mapping out his familiar face. He turned to me and just... stared into my eyes, and I did the same to him. A long 10 seconds went by before anyone said or did anything. All of a sudden, I found myself falling into his arms, secure, safe again. _I forgot the way he smells,_ I thought, as I nuzzled my face in the fabric of his clothes. _He smells good. _Sokka then joined the embrace with us, and a wave of relief washed over me.

"Every day I was gone, I thought about you two, and I missed you so much that it made my chest ache," he said softly to the both of us, a tear rolling down both sides of his face. Soon, I found myself crying too. I knew he wasn't going to stay for good, but while he was there, it might actually be nice. I missed his voice...

OoOoO

"-And then Zuko and Katara _finally_became friends!" Sokka said with a dramatic flair as he finished his story of how Zuko became our friend. Dad laughed a little, and smiled at me. I smiled back.

"Always been the stubborn one."

"Well, I had a reason to not like him at first!" I said, faking an offended look. "He was a jerk! He said he had never seen such poofy hair before, and then he proceeded to ask me if I fried my hair with a clothing iron every day to make it look like that," I was really grinning now. Gosh, it was funny how much I disliked the guy.

"You know, I don't think that was an insult," Sokka said. "I think he was just being Zuko-y."

"You know, I think so too," I laughed. We shared a short giggle with each other before we turned back to dad. He was grinning at us.

"Ah, I've missed the sound of your laughing. You know Sokka," he started, "you have your Gramp-gramp's laugh."

"What? Really?" Sokka said, actually taken aback. "I never knew that." I smiled at both brother and dad. We were here, together, sitting and chatting like a normal family in the TV room like actual normal people. It was different. I liked it. Dad went on with the story.

"Yeah. You didn't start laughing like that until you were about three years old though. I still remember the first time you did..." He laughed a little. "You scared the wits out of your mom! She told me that, for a moment, she thought your grandpa was actually in the room." He smiled to himself, then put his head down a little. The shadows on his face at the moment, with his head down, make him look a little defeated. "Gosh, I do miss her sometimes. She was one of the, greatest people I've ever known, next to you two and your grandparents."

Sokka and I shared a look briefly, before our smiles fell a little. "Yeah, she was a wonderful person," I said. "I miss her everyday." I subconsciously placed my hand over the beautiful necklace she gave me when I was eight. It used to be hers, and she told me to take care of it because it was her mother's necklace too. A day doesn't go by where I don't wear it. It reminds me of the past, and of family. I looked up at dad. I was about to say something, but someone beat me to talking.

"Dad, why did the military let you visit us?" Sokka asked. The question threw both dad and I off.

"What do you mean, son?"

"I mean they've never let you visit us before. Why now?" I hadn't thought of that. Dad sat up straight, and took on a very serious look. I could already tell by that look that there was something bad.

"My unit is about to be dispatched on a very important mission. A very dangerous one. A few select soldiers, like myself, have been chosen for military leave to see their families and loved ones."

"So, wait," I stood up, "you're saying that you're visiting to say goodbye? Forever?" I said this quietly for some reason. Maybe it was because my throat was beginning to close up that I couldn't speak at my normal tone. I felt a huge weight drop to the bottom of my stomach. I didn't want to lose him too... I already lost him once.

"Katara, Sokka," he paused. He looked down first, thinking, before he looked back at my brother and I. "I wish it didn't have to be like this, but there is no other way. We've been planning this inva-this, mission, for a long time. I haven't had any other time to see you. We just finally had t-"

"Are you going to come back?" Sokka interrupted. His voice was quieter too, and he had a serious, deep tone that I'd never heard him use before.

Dad sighed. "I don't know. What I do know is that I will work harder than I ever have to come back alive." He smiled. "For the both of you. If this mission works out properly, I'll be able to come home."

"For good?" I asked, suddenly hopeful again.

"For good." He grabbed both mine and Sokka's hands and squeezed them tightly. We leaned closer into him, and he rested his head on mine while he put an arm around my brother. "I'll fight for you both."

We stayed like this for a while. Eventually, I started drifting off. I heard Sokka standing up, saying something to dad about bedt, and walking off into his room and shutting the door. Then, I felt dads arms wrap around me protectively, then lift me up off the sitting mat. I assumed he was carrying me to my room.

As he was walking me to my bed, I put my head on his shoulder and placed my arm around his neck, relaxing in the feeling of something comforting and loving. I felt like a little girl again in her strong daddy's arms. I guess, that's really what I was.

He opened my door and lay me down gently, pulled the covers over me, and whispered "goodnight, my beautiful." He kissed my forehead and walked out of my room, turning off the lights. I let a tear fall down my face.

I was glad to have my daddy back, even if it was just for a short while.

OoOoO

I woke up in cold sweat.

Crap.

I was too busy with dad yesterday to even think about my projects, and Professor Piandao wanted an outline on the beginnings of our project, which was due today! Also, Professor Zei from anthropology wanted a four page "short" evaluation on the 21st century to start off our studies. The 21st century was probably my least favorite century. To busy and dirty. Why couldn't he have picked a better century... Oh no, and I also had that paper for Professor Zhao and the... gosh. Where to begin.

Why do teachers do this, all pile up an obscene amount of homework all at the same time? How could I have forgotten? Well, I guess I had a pretty good excuse to be a little sidetracked. Sill, I was screwed. I frantically stepped out of my desk and touched an icon on my wall tablet. Part of the wall spun around and came out to reveal my desk space. I touched the surface of my desk, and it turned on, watching it quickly flashing a tranquil blue screen before turning on. Soon enough, I began typing away furiously at many multiple documents that I had opened. I looked to the top right-hand corner of the screen-desk. _1 o'clock. _I had time. _Katara, breathe._

"I love dad, but this visit is already killing my studies."

OoOoO

"I hate projects. No, I hate work in general. I wish I didn't have to work."

"Me neither," Aang agreed. I had been complaining to him about having to work in the wee hours of the morning because of a "little distraction" during the day. It wasn't the working so early that bothered me, no. It was the fact that I had gotten up so early and was still working until 6 in the morning. I still had some things to finish during 10 o'clock break before I go to some of my classes. Also, the work I did wasn't as high quality as it should have been because of my rushing.

"I feel so bad for you. At least I got _some_ sleep."

"Don't rub it in."

"Sorry," Aang grinned sheepishly. "I am so happy that you get to see your dad though. That must be amazing." He was smiling sincerely and his eyes just seemed so... joyful. I think he really was happy to hear that I got to be with my dad.

"It is." I smiled back.

Aang cocked his head to the side and looked up thoughtfully for a moment. Then, he turned to me as if he just had just seen genius. "Hey Katara..."

"Yes Aang?"

"Why don't we just work together on the projects?" That had never occurred to me. "It would go by way quicker, and you might be able to have more time with your dad if we split up the work. We have a lot of the same assignments and classes, so we should be able to do that."

"Yeah, but the teachers told us that this is individual work."

"Well," he smiled devilishly, "it'll be a secret. We'll turn in our own separate projects, making sure they're different from each other's." I sat up.

"Yeah, let's do that. Do you want to work at my house? I have a screen desk that can split into two different screens for two people."

"Perfect." _I get to hang out with him outside of school! Maybe I can flirt-I mean study. Study a lot with him. Yeah, that. _I blushed. I wasn't really thinking of him like that, was I? Nah, I'm not the type to develop crushes on boys I barely knew. Whatever. It was probably nothing.

The hover bus stopped in front of the school, and the students pushed themselves off of it.

"Hey sugarqueen! Twinkletoes! Wait up!" I heard my friend calling from behind Aang and I as we began walking up to the school.

"Hey Toph! Did you call me twinkletoes just now?" Aang asked.

"Yeah, what did you think I said, dancypants?" teased Toph while she caught up with us. "You have the lightest, bounciest movements I've ever felt on a person. It's almost like what I'd imagine an Airbender to feel like!" .

"Heh, yeah, like an Airbender. Hm... funny... so Toph, did the implant hurt, or what?" He chuckled. Oh no, why did he have to say that? Now she's going to go on about her SI chip story...

"Hurt!" She exclaimed, a cocky grin forming across her features. "I didn't feel anything! However, I was supposed to though. It's supposed to an extremely _painful _procedure!" She said, emphasizing the 'painful.' "Here, let me tell you a funny story twinkletoes..."

I smiled as I tuned her out. She _always_ overdoes that story. As she was praddling on about the gruesome procedure of her surgery, my mind drifted off onto my dad, and then onto Aang with his beautiful grey eyes and shimmering smile. I think I could really get to liking Aang. This was definitely going to be an interesting junior year.

**Whoo! Another chapter out there! To be honest, I kinda completely forgot about this story. I was reading fanfiction the other day and went, "oh wait, I have a story. Yeah.." Sorry! I'll try to remember about it. :p**


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